The board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey yesterday approved more than $1 billion in new construction spending for the region's airports next year. The biggest share—$578 million—will go toward LaGuardia's $8 billion revamp. Another $167 million is earmarked for a $2.3 billion redevelopment at Newark Liberty. [The Wall Street Journal]

Only 10% of 400 teachers in a pool of educators removed from regular work for reasons including disciplinary action and poor performance have been placed in classrooms full-time since August, when the city announced that it would drain the reserve. Most of the 41 teachers have been placed in schools with high-need students. [The New York Times]

City wants state detention center as Rikers alternative

The city wants to take over the state-run Ella McQueen juvenile detention center in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, as part of an initiative to stop the jailing of 16- and 17-year-olds at Rikers Island. The city has until October 2018 to meet that goal. Officials say converting the 40-bed state center would let the city avoid the lengthy approval process for a new facility. [Daily News]

NY's small-group health insurance market distressed

The average monthly premium in the state's small-group health insurance market rose 39% between 2014 and 2016, to $600 per person, according to a report from the nonprofit United Hospital Fund. The analysis also found that enrollment dropped by 1.7 million from 2007 to last year. The fund said the market is "showing signs of distress." [Crain’s Health Pulse]

Manhattan hedge fund founder out over sexual harassment claims

Sam Islay has resigned as managing partner of OrbiMed, a $14 billion health care hedge fund and private equity firm in Manhattan that he founded 19 years ago, amid allegations that he sexually harassed and bullied female employees. Islay has denied the accusations, but he resigned two days after they surfaced. [Axios]

Plus: Penguin Press will publish a book by New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, whose Harvey Weinstein expose set off the wave of sexual misconduct allegations and revelations. [The New York Times]

Manhattan's Apollo Global buying Qdoba for $300 million

Manhattan-based Apollo Global Management is buying Qdoba Mexican Eats from Jack in the Box for about $300 million. The 720-restaurant group, the nation's second-largest Mexican food chain, saw its same-store sales fall during its latest fiscal quarter. Jack in the Box announced in May that it was exploring a sale. [New York Post]

NY Archdiocese pays $40 million to abuse victims

The Archdiocese of New York—which includes Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx—has paid more than $40 million to 189 people through an initiative to settle claims of clergy sexual abuse. The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program ended Nov. 30, but the archdiocese said it is still processing claims. [The Wall Street Journal]

Plus: Suspended Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine called sexual abuse claims against him "unfounded." [The New York Times]

Nets owner Prokhorov implicated in Russian doping scandal

Grigory Rodchenkov, the Moscow official who oversaw the doping of Russian athletes, has alleged in sworn testimony that billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who owns the Brooklyn Nets, paid an athlete millions of rubles not to disclose the scheme. Prokhorov denied the allegation. Russia was recently banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics because of the doping. [The Wall Street Journal]

FAO Schwarz reopening at 30 Rock

Toy retailer FAO Schwarz will move next year to 19,000 square feet at 30 Rockefeller Plaza that's currently occupied by the NBC Experience store. That retailer is moving within the same tower. FAO Schwarz's new space is about a third that of its former flagship in Fifth Avenue’s GM Building, which it left in July 2015 because of the rent. [New York Post]

Merry money-making for city's Christmas tree pop-ups

New York's laissez-faire Christmas tree market appears to be largely split between in-state distributors that contract with growers farther afield and Vermont farmers who truck in their own spruces and firs. City regulations require only that tree market vendors get permission from owners responsible for the sidewalk frontage. [Crain’s New York Business]

Plus: The city could get up to 3 inches of snow tomorrow. [New York Post]

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